Honoring war dead, supporting survivors
Somber tribute to fallen troops at Presidio’s Memorial Day ceremony
Under a blanket of gray fog, surrounded by American flags snapping in a cold wind blowing over the San Francisco National Cemetery of the Presidio, Pfc. Caesar Viglienzone was remembered.
He was just 21 when he was killed by a bomb in Iraq in 2006. At Monday’s Memorial Day service, his parents laid a wreath for him — and for the hundreds of thousands of other Americans who have lost their lives in battle.
“Caesar wore mismatched socks, listened to Metallica, learned to play the drums,” said Karl Eikenberry, former ambassador to Afghanistan and a retired Army general, who spoke on behalf of Vi-
“They would have gotten married, had kids, gotten different jobs or even just grown older. It’s not just that they lost their lives. We lost, too.” Nicole Suraci-Nguyen, president of Golden Gate University Veterans’ Law Student Association
glienzone’s family.
Viglienzone, who grew up in Santa Rosa, had considered college, but decided to enlist in the Army instead. “He wanted to do something he could be proud of. He wanted to do something that had meaning,” Eikenberry said.
Then Eikenberry thanked the crowd of several hundred gathered on the lawn. “It’s only through the participation of Americans citizens that we give this day meaning and significance,” he said.
San Francisco’s Memorial Day observance began with a short, festive march, led by San Francisco Boy Scouts, from the Presidio Officers’ Club to the cemetery, where the mood was mostly somber, with some brighter moments. The crowd waved when a U.S. Coast Guard helicopter flew an aerial salute overhead, and they applauded in support when one veteran faltered in sharing his memories of fighting in Iraq and the people he lost there.
The formal ceremony opened with a four-gun salute and “The Star-Spangled Banner,” and a reading of the poem “In Flanders Fields,” a tribute to men who died in World War I, which that led to red poppies becoming a symbol of fallen soldiers worldwide. In the audience, dozens of people wore red poppy pins on their coats.
Among the attendees were city and state elected officials, plus House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, who offered the closing remarks, choosing to quote largely from President John F. Kennedy on what would have been his 100th birthday.
Everyone knows the most famous line from Kennedy’s inauguration speech, Pelosi said: “Ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country.” The men and women who died fighting made that commitment, she said.
“We come to this occasion with great pride and great humility,” Pelosi said.
The ceremony paid special observance to men and women like Viglienzone who have died in more recent wars. Two young veterans spoke about peers who have died, and how their losses echo through families and communities of survivors.
“They would have gotten married, had kids, gotten different jobs or even just grown older,” said Nicole SuraciNguyen, who served with the Marines and the Army and is president of the Golden Gate University Veterans’ Law Student Association. “It’s not just that they lost their lives. We lost, too.”
Joshua Mantz, a retired Army major injured in Iraq, said he’s suffered with daunting periods of grief, guilt and shame in the years since, and kept going only through the support of family, friends — and at times strangers who understood the depth of his trauma.
“Even in my darkest moments, I was never alone,” Mantz said. “There was always someone in my life with strength and courage to plant healing seeds in my mind.”
Mantz paused, clearly collecting himself, as people in the audience applauded softly and called out encouragement. He smiled, and said that the support he’s received in San Francisco and the Bay Area is emblematic of the spirit of respect that is celebrated on Memorial Day.
“Monuments and memorials are a great way to honor those who came before us,” Mantz said. “But the most important is to let their spirit live through us.”